Cleaner for shipss hulls



No. 622,232. Patented Apr.- 4; I899. 0. E. INGLIS.

BLEANER FOB SHIPS HULLS.

(Apphcstlon filed June 8 1898) 3 Sheets-Sheet I.

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CLEANER FDR SHIPS HULLS.

(Application filed June 8, 1898.) (lo llodei.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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No. 622,232. Patented Apr. 4, I899:

' 0. E. INGLIS.

CLEANER FOB SHIPS HULLS.

v (Apialication filed June s 1898.) (No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

WITNESSES:

INVENTOR:

NITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

OTTO E. INGLIS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CLEANER FOR SHIPS HULLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 622,232, dated April4, 1899.

Application filed June 8, 1898. Serial No. 682,9 l6. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OTTO E. INGLIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inVesselsels; and it consists of certain improvements which will behereinafter fully described and then specifically pointed out in theclaims at the end of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus forvessels which is adapted to be held practically stationary in the waterand to act in cooperation with a moving vessel for the purpose ofscraping and cleansing the bottom and sides of the same by removingtherefrom all barnacles, seaweed, 650., that may have accumulatedthereon.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a suitable andcomparatively simple, embodiment of my invention, and in which similarletters refer-to corresponding parts throughout the several views,Figure 1 is a View in elevation of my improved cleaner in operativeposition. Fig. 2 is a top or plan View of one of the cleaner-platesforming one of the links or sections of my improved cleaner detached, ona larger scale than Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the same on theline 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical central sectional view of theguide-roller of the cleaner and two of the cleaner-plates connectedthereto. Fig. 5 is a detail View of the hinged connection between one ofthe cleaner-plates and the said guide-roller.

The improved cleaning apparatus generally consists of a flexible scrapercomposed of cleaner-plates, links, or sections A, hinged together at a.To the opposite ends of the flexible scraper are connected floats orbuoys B B, which may be of any suitable well-known construction, shape,and size. They should be of such a size, however, as to float or suspendthe cleaner in the water below the sur face thereof, as illustrated inFig. 1. Midway the length of the flexible cleaner a guideroller 0, issuitably secured for a purpose further on to be made plain. In order tomaintain the cleaner practically stationary in the water, so that itwill properly scrape barnacles, &c., from the bottom and sides of avessel passing or sailing through or over the cleaner, the buo'ys B Bshould be anchored by means of suitable anchors D D and chains E E andthe guide-roller O similarly anchored by an anchor F and chain G.

With the flexible cleaner held in a station ary position, as abovedescribed, and illustrated in Fig. 1, it will be apparent that thevessel to be scraped or cleaned is caused to move toward the cleaner andbetween the two buoys B B, which thus not only serve to float or suspendthe cleaner, but also serve to guide the vessel in the properdirection.- The vessel should be so guided as to cause its keel tostrike and glide upon the guide roller 0, which is thereby depressed thefull depth of the vessel below the water-line z, and the flexiblescraper is thus caused to conform to the curved sides and bottom of thevessel.-

As the vessel moves forward with the flexible scraper in close contactwith the outer sur face thereof, the scraper being held stationary orprevented from moving with the vessel by reason of the anchors D D andF, all barnacles, grass, 850., on the said outer surface of the vesselare scraped ofi.

While the cleaner-plates forming the links or sections A of the flexiblescraper or cleaner may be made in any suitable manner, I prefer toconstruct them as follows: Each plate may be made of sheet metal, assteel, ribbed or corrugated to form teeth or scrapers H, extendinglongitudinally of the flexible cleaner. The forward end of thecleaner-plate is bent or curved downwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, and theedge is provided with a series of sawteeth I for the purpose of cuttingor tearing off grass or seaweed from the bottom and sides of the vesselbefore the scrapers H commence to act upon the barnacles. The scrapersupon the downwardly-bent or curved portion of the cleaner-plate are eachplaced successively a little higher than the scraper in advance of it.The object of this arrangement of the scrapers is to lessen the work tobe performed by the scrapers on the body or flat portion of the plate bysuccessively cutting or breaking off portions of the barnacles, thefirst scraper acting to break or cut off the largest of the barnacles orthe ends thereof, the next scraper cutting off more of the barnaelesuntil the scrapers on the body of the plate scrape the sides of thevessel clean; It will be observed that as there are a plurality ofscrapers on the same level on the body of each plate and as thesescrapers come in contact with the vessel the cleaner-plates are held inthe proper position and cannot be twisted out of an effective scrapingposition. For the purpose of effectin g a more thorough cleaning of thevessel than might be attained only by the use of the scrapers justdescribed wire or other brushes J may be secured to the cleanerplates ator near their rear edges. By locating the brushes in this position theydo not come into action upon the moving vessel until the scrapers haveperformed the heavier work of removing the barnacles, &c.

The corrugated or ribbed sheet metal cleaner-plates, if desired, may bestrengthened or stiffened by the addition of a bottom or. base plate K,also of sheet metal and connected to the corrugated or ribbed sheet byrivets 7;. If preferred, the cleaner-plates may be cast or wrought,instead of being formed of sheet metal, as described.

The cleaner-plates may be connected to each other by any preferred formof hinge-joint that will allow the cleaner to flex toward or away fromthe sides and bottom of the vessel, but which will not allow the cleanerto flex in the direction in which the vessel is moving to anygreatextent. In the present instance I have shown the joints asconsisting of simple ears or perforated lugs h h, through which suitablepintles may be passed, as will readily be understood.

To secure the best results with my improved cleaner, each link orcleaner-plate of the flexible scraper may be provided with a float L,(see Fig. 3,) secured to the under side of the link. The tendency of thefloats L is to give buoyancy to the flexible scraper and lift it upward,whereby the scraper may be caused to better conform to the curved sidesand bottom of the vessel than can be attained by the keel of the vesselacting upon the guide-roller 0. Another advantage of these floats isthat when the anchor F is weighed the entire flexible cleaner is causedto float upon or near the surface of the water to enable it to be morereadily gathered in for cleaning or storage when not in use.

I have shown the guide-roller C as mounted in a pulley frame or yoke Mby way of the roller-axle N, the chain G of the anchor F being connectedto said frame or yoke at g. The cleaner-plates A A immediately onopposite sides of the guide-roller are connected to said roller-axle byhinged joints a similar to the joints between the plates, or theseplates may be connected to said axle or to the roller frame or yoke inany other suitable manner.

Among the many advantages possessed by my improved vessel-cleaner may bementioned the following: Any vessel of whatever size or shape may beequipped with one of the cleaners, which should be of a lengthapproximately corresponding with the greatest width of the vessel-thatis' to say, the flexible cleaner should be of a length to adapt it toconform to the hull of the vessel with which it is to be used, so thatas the vesselis forced forward through or over the cleaner practicallythe entire surface of the sides and bottom of the vessel may be scrapedby the cleaner. The cleaner is comparatively simple in construction andmay be stored away upon shipboard and occupy but little space. Anyvessel provided with one of the cleaners may be readily cleaned at anytime and in almost any place, whether in river, lake, harbor, or

open sea, Without the necessity of being docked; but little time andeflort are required to adjust or place the cleaner in operativeposition, the cleaner practically being automatic in its cleaning orscraping action, it only being necessary to place the cleaner in properposition, as hereinbefore described, and steam or sail the vesselthrough or over it. The manual labor, time, and expense usually requiredto clean the sides and bottom of a foul vessel are reduced to a minimum.After the vessel has been thoroughly cleaned the cleaning apparatus maybe floated and itself cleaned and then stored on the vessel again.

Obviously many changes not already pointed out may be made in theconstruction herein shown and described without departing from thespirit and scope of myinvention, as I believe myself to be the first toprovide a cleaning apparatus forfoul vessels which is adapted to be heldpractically stationary in the Water and act upon the bottom and sides ofmoving vessels, whereby the movement of the vessel performs the cleaningor scraping action without the employment of other forces or agenciesand without the necessity of docking the vessel to be cleaned. Thecleanerplates may be constructed in any suitable manner and may beprovided with any desired form of cleaning or scraping means orprojections.

If thought advisable,a suitable keel-scraper (not shown) maybe employedfor scraping the keel of the vessel before it comes in contact with theroller 0. This keel-scrapermay consist of a U-shaped piece rigidlysecured to the roller-frame M in advance of the roller 0, as willreadily be understood.

1 claim as my invention 1. An apparatus for cleaning the sides andbottoms of foul seagoing vessels, having means for suspending theapparatus in the proper position in the water and also having means forholding it practically stationary, whereby a vessel may be cleaned byits own movement by passing over or through the said cleaning apparatus,substantiallyas described.

2. An apparatus for cleaning the sides and bottoms of foul sea-goingvessels consisting of a flexible cleaner composed of cleanerplateshinged together, in combination with an anchor connected to saidguide-roller for holding the same in position, buoys connected to theopposite ends of the flexible cleaner for suspending said cleaner in thewater and anchors connected to said buoys for holding the same inposition, substantially as and for the purpose described. 4. Acleaner-plate for cleaning the sides and bottoms of foul Vessels saidplate being curved downwardly at its front edge and provided on itsupper surface with a series of scraping ribs or projections, the ribs orprojectionsv on the straight portion of the plate being on alevel andthose on the downwardlycurved front edge of the plate being below theribs or projections on said straight portion of the plate, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OTTO E. INGLIS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM R. SIMPSON, MARY 0. BROWN.

